Wednesday, March 25, 2009

I had two major milestones happen to me this morning, both of them occurred before 7am. The first happened around 6:15am while I was at the pool, when I swam half a length of the pool without any help. There was no floatation device, no swim instructor, no guidance, not even another occupant in the pool with me. I was one with water and chlorine, and I succeeded for half a length of pool, not once, twice, but four times. After the fourth time, I tried to get cute and push myself a little bit, but I ran out of energy and damn near killed myself. At least I have something to look forward to the next time.

The second miracle happened around 6:45am, and this one requires some background. Every morning when I am walking back from the pool, I see the Washington Post guy throwing newspapers from the street to various doorsteps around my neighborhood. This always holds a special place in my heart, because I too was a newspaper delivery person when I was a 10 year old living in Connecticut. Anyway, I always see this gentleman throwing papers around, sometimes I think to myself, "Rashad, you should try to run and catch one of these papers mid-air". Now that may sound crazy and juvenile to you (that's because it is) but I thrive on such fake athletic achievements, and I was not going to be denied. Usually I am so tired from my swim workout, and that I can't even fathom picking a newspaper out of thin air. But I was feeling high and mighty after my Phelpsian half a length of a pool performance, so I decided to give it a gander. I watched the delivery guy pull up slightly in front of me, and throw the paper from his car to the doorstep, and took over running like another Olympic athlete, and with my Ipod headphones on, I caught the paper with my right hand(not my strong hand).

The guy who threw the paper looked me dead in the face, shook his head, and just drove away to the next destination. Clearly he failed to recognize the feat that had just been conquered right before his very eyes. There was a guy walking his dog a few steps in front of me, and he was laughing his ass enough. Curiously, the dog did not seemed amused and he started barking and growling like Chewbacca. I had done something he had done countless times, but I gave it more flair and class. After I reveled in my feat for about 30 seconds, I put the newspaper down where it belonged and continued to walk home.

You probably think I am joking or making this up, but I'm really not. That really did feel good, and I really am just that simple at times. Besides, I bet you didn't do that much before 7 am this morning.

5 comments:

Congrats! Celebrate all those swimming milestones, for real. You'll be up to a full length in no time, probably next week. I don't know what your swim challenges are, but my my fear, anxiety, and inadequate technique. I really had to learn to relax in the pool, develop a steady stroke (breast stroke is my coolest, calmest stroke) and develop a brething rhthym. On the front- crawl, I breathed every other right hand stroke. So to make sure I had full strokes with my arms, I would tap my thigh with the tip of my thumb. Then to breath, I would really reach with the left, &tuck my chin on my right shoulder & gently roll to the side for an extra second of air. All that took me a couple of months before it was committed to muscle memory. But in the words of Jadakiss - you gon' make it, you gon' make it!

Tia,You have no idea what the depths of my specialness are..stay tuned.

Sab,This is the first week I've gone to the pool everyday, so its getting easier. My biggest fear is getting a mouthful of water, and it throwing off my breathing. And i haven't even learned the breaststroke yet, but that's coming. I'm just happy i'm taking babysteps you know?